Difficulties in Raising Teenagers
by bandgeek18
Summary: Oliver is forced to realize that raising a teenager is a lot harder than he thought it would be. One-shot.


A/N: I love writing stories about these two archers. I've been working on this one for a while because I couldn't work out the ending. Enjoy.

"Hey, Ollie…" Roy said cautiously as he entered his guardians home office.

"No," Oliver said without looking up from his paperwork.

"You didn't even hear what I was going to say!"

"You're going to ask if you can get out of going to the dinner tonight, and the answer is no."

"That's not fair! You didn't even let me ask!"

Oliver sighed and looked at his ward, setting down his pen. "Fine. Go ahead."

"There's a party tonight-"

"No."

"It's on this side of the city-"

"No."

"Everyone is going!"

"I know one person who won't be."

"Ollie!"

"Roy, no."

"It's perfectly safe!"

"I think you're forgetting who you're talking to. I went to tons of parties in high school. I know what goes on there. Drinking, drugs, sex. The answer is no."

"Please? I won't do anything stupid! Everyone is going and I really want to! You can trust me, Ollie! Please?"

Oliver sighed and rubbed his face. It was hard to say no when Roy was giving him that pleading look. "Fine. You can go." The smile on Roy's face was instantaneous.

"Thank you, Ollie! I have to go get ready!"

Oliver shook his head as the teen left. "Please don't let me regret this."

— —

A few hours later, Oliver was ready to go to his charity dinner and Roy was ready to go to his party. The former was fixing his tie when the doorbell rang. "I got it!" He walked to the door and smiled widely when he opened it. "Why hello, beautiful."

"Hi, Ollie," Dinah said in greeting. She let Oliver pull him into her arms and kissed him passionately. "Now that's a greeting." Someone behind them made a disgusted sound. They turned around and found Roy standing in the front hall.

"Really, kid?"

"You're my guardian, it's gross," Roy replied matter-of-factly.

"Why are you dressed like that?" Dinah asked. The teen was wearing ripped jeans, a black t-shirt with some sort of rock band on it, and a dark brown leather jacket. His normally messy red hair was was all parted to one side. "I thought this dinner was formal?"

"Roy's not coming," Oliver explained.

"I'm going to a party," Roy explained, almost proudly.

"Ah, I see," Dinah nodded in understanding. "How are you getting to this party?"

"Oh, ah there's this kid in my math class who's driving a bunch of people."

"You didn't say someone from your class- a bunch?" Oliver asked, that part catching his attention. "How many is a bunch?"

"I don't know… 3 or 4?" A car suddenly pulled up the drive, blasting loud music and filled with teenagers. The drive honked, despite the three of them standing there in the front door. "Bye Ollie-"

"Wait a minute." Oliver grabbed Roy's elbow as he passed. "Do you have your phone?"

"Ollie…they're watching!"

"You can either answer my questions, or I'm going to hug you."

"I have my phone."

"Money?"

"Yes." The driver honked the horn again.

"If anyone starts drinking or doing drugs, call me and I'll pick you up."

"Ollie-"

"I'll even drop you off here and buy you pizza."

"It's going to be fine, Ollie."

"Roy, please."

Roy sighed. "Fine. I promise, if anyone starts drinking or doing drugs, I'll call you."

"Good." Oliver let go and Roy bolted from the stairs.

"Bye!"

"Home by 10!" Roy climbed into the car and had barely shut the door when it screeched out of the large, u-shaped driveway. Neither Oliver or Dinah said anything for a minute. "How many kids did he say would be in the car?"

"Three or four," Dinah answered.

"How many did you count?"

"Six, but those were just the ones I could see." Oliver groaned. "Relax, Ollie. Roy's going to be fine. He's a smart kid."

"I know, I know." Oliver sighed and took her hand. "Well my pretty bird, shall we go eat over-priced food for a good cause?"

"Of course."

— —

The dinner was more or less what Oliver anticipated it would be. Rich people he either didn't know or didn't like asked him about business and complimented Dinah on her dress. A few times Oliver worried about Roy and thought about texting him to make sure everything was ok, but Dinah kept stopping him. She insisted he needed to trust Roy. Luckily, when it was time to eat dessert, Oliver was distracted by trying to scrape the disgusting cherry sauce off his ice cream.

"Are you three?" Dinah asked.

"It's gross."

"Ollie-" She was cut off by Oliver's phone ringing. He smirked at her as he answered it.

"Hello?"

"Ollie?" Roy greeted quietly.

"Roy? What's wrong?"

"Don't be mad."

"….You know that's not a great way to start a conversation."

"Please promise you won't get mad."

"I make no such promise, now tell me what's going on! Are you ok?" Dinah placed her hand on his arm and gave him a concerned look.

"I'm fine, I just…need you to pick me up."

"Where are you?"

"…..jail…."

"…..what?"

"I'm-I'm in the Star City jail. Downtown."

"You're-" Oliver exhaled loudly. "Fine. I'll be there soon." He hung up and exhaled loudly again.

"What happened?" Dinah asked as they stood up.

"I don't know. The only thing I know is that Roy got arrested is waiting for me to bail him out downtown."

"Why was he arrested? Is he ok?"

"I don't know and he won't be when I get a hold of him." Dinah briefly wondered if she should try to calm Oliver down, but decided against it. He at least seemed in control of it for now. A couple of people gave them odd looks for leaving early, but Oliver ignored them. All of his energy was focused on getting to the Star City jail to bail out Roy. When he pulled up outside the tall, stone building, he gripped the steering wheel and took a very deep breath. "I'll be right back."

"Breathe, Ollie."

Oliver got out of the car and walked into the police station. As soon as he walked in he was greeted with a small booth with one door on either side of it and a glass partition serrating him from the officer inside. "I'm here to pick someone up-"

"Door on the right, follow the signs." The officer buzzed Oliver in and he followed the signs down a flight of stairs to the area where the holding cells were. He walked into a room very similar to the first.

"Hi," he said to the officer on the other side of the glass. "I'm here to pick up Roy Harper."

"Is he a minor?"

"Yes."

"Door on the left." He unlocked it and Oliver walked in. This room was large and stone, with three cells facing the door. He immediately recognized the red-haired teenager sitting on the floor in the back amongst the other teens sitting in there. Roy's hair was messy and his clothes were dirty. He hadn't even noticed Oliver was there, sitting with his head down in his hands.

Sighing deeply, Oliver walked up to the cell and leaned against the bars. "You know, I'm tempted to leave you here."

"Oliver?" Roy said, lifting his head up. A look of relief washed over his face when he saw his guardian. He jumped to his feet and ran to the bars, no one else in the cell even moved. "You're here."

"Yeah. I'm here. Although, maybe I shouldn't be. Maybe I should leave you here overnight."

"Overnight?"

Oliver grimaced, suddenly trying to put down his temper again. He could actually smell the alcohol on Roy's breath. 'Focus on getting him home. Then kill him.'

"Excuse me, sir," said someone from behind. Oliver turned around and found himself face-to-face with an officer. "Are you here to pick him up?"

"Yes." He stepped back and the officer unlocked the cell to allow Roy out.

"Step over here, please." They followed the officer to a desk across from one of the adjacent cells, where he sat down. There were no chairs, so Oliver and Roy stood. "Mr. Queen, you are Roy's foster father?"

"Yes."

"Ok. Roy has been charged with under-aged drinking and underage possession of alcohol. Both are non-criminal, status offenses. We're willing to let Roy go with the promise that he will appear before a judge at his assigned court date."

"Yes, he will definitely be there."

"Good. If you will just sign these forms, you can take him home." Oliver did so, pushing the pen down a bit more forcefully than was actually necessary. When he finished he slid the papers back to the officer, who looked over them and nodded. "Have a good night, sir."

"Uh-huh. Let's go." Oliver put his hand on Roy's back and walk him out of the police station. Neither of them said anything, the silence persisting to the car. Roy didn't even say hi to Dinah and instead chose to sulk in the back seat the entire ride home. Occasionally Dinah glanced between them but didn't step in. Oliver was Roy's guardian, he needed to handle this. She would only step in if it looks the archer was going to say something he'd regret to the teen. When they finally got home Oliver still didn't even say anything to Roy, in fact, he barely even looked at him when they walked in the front door. "Go to bed."

"Bed?"

"Yes, that thing upstairs I'm legally obligated to give you. Bed. Now."

"That's it? You're silent the whole ride home and you just send me to bed?"

"Yes." Oliver wisely chose to walk away, but Roy, still feeling buzzed, which had emboldened him, followed. "I don't want to do this right now, Roy."

"I want to! You can't just ignore me!" He followed Oliver into the living and his words caused the man to turn around.

"Fine. You want to do this right now? Let's do it right now! How could you something this bone-headedly stupid?! I ask you for one thing. One fucking thing and you couldn't even do it! I don't ask you for straight A's. I don't ask you for perfect attendance. I don't even ask you to clean anything other than your room! The one thing I did ask was that you call me if there was drinking!"

"You didn't say to not drink!"

"Not to- You're fucking 15! I thought it was implied! I didn't think I had to spell it out for you!"

"It was just two drinks, Ollie! If the neighbor's hadn't called the cops, I wouldn't have even gotten caught!"

"That doesn't matter! You're under-aged! You shouldn't be drinking!"

"You're judging me?! Like you never drank when you were you my age!"

"That's not the point! I thought I could trust you! I thought you were better than this! Clearly, I was wrong though! You're obviously not as trustworthy as I thought! It makes me wonder why I let you run around shooting arrows at criminals!"

"It was two drinks!"

"You're 15!"

"I fight criminals and risk my neck every night! I think I'm capable of having two drinks!"

"You're a stupid kid, you don't know what you're capable of!"

"I know I'm more capable than you!"

"Ok!" Dinah yelled, stepping between them. She put her hand on Oliver's chest, keeping him from getting close to the teen. While she knew Oliver needed to parent Roy at a time like this, she couldn't see their argument going anywhere except somewhere the two of them would regret. Unfortunately, Roy's slightly intoxicated brain thought continuing the fight was a good idea.

"At least I do something good with my time! You spent every possible minute trying to get laid when you-"

"Roy!" Dinah had to hold back so as to not use her canary cry. "Bed!" Sensing he wouldn't be getting anywhere with either adult, he pushed himself out of the chair and let the room stumbling and grumbling under his breath. Once he was gone, Dinah turned to Oliver, keeping her hand on his chest. "Ollie-"

"Where does he get the nerve-" Oliver began, but Dinah cut him off.

"Take deep breaths."

"He was drinking!"

"I know."

"He's a child!"

"I know."

Oliver sighed and rubbed this face. "This was so much easier last year."

"Teenagers aren't supposed to be easy, Ollie." Dinah gently grabbed his wrists and guided his hands down from his face. "I'm sure you weren't."

"Roy's not me though. He has a good head and he's smart. When I was his age I wouldn't have been able to do half the things he can." That made Dinah smile. "I just don't want him to all the stupid things I did when I was 15."

"I know. You're trying to protect him. Unfortunately, wisdom like that is something we only have in hindsight." She wrapped her arms around him and Oliver pulled her close. "It was just two drinks, you haven't lost him yet."

"That's how it starts though!"

"And you need to tell him that. I know you and Roy usually get along pretty well but…"

Oliver sighed. "I really don't like this discipline part of parenting."

"It has to be done."

"I know." He kissed her hair. "You want to stay the night, Pretty Bird?"

Dinah smiled into his shirt. "I would love to."

— —

The next morning, Roy's head hurt as soon as he opened his eyes and his mouth was so dry his tongue flopped around uselessly. Stumbling into his bathroom he turned on the faucet and cupped his hands underneath. After a few handfuls of water, his mouth was better, but his head didn't feel any better. 'Why do I feel so horrible?' Roy blinked and then he remembered the night before. The party. That senior handing him a cup. Roy drinking it without thinking, wanting nothing more than to look cool in front of the older boy. He grimaced when he remembered the sounds of police sirens and handcuffs pinching his wrists. 'That turned out to be a good plan.' he thought. Sighing, he walked back into his bedroom and changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt before he went downstairs.

Oliver was already up and in the kitchen when Roy got there. The teen sat down at the table. "Morning, Ollie," he said after a moment when his guardian didn't say anything. There was another minute of silence before Oliver turned around an handed Roy an aspirin and glass of water. "How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess," Oliver said shortly before going back to preparing his ward's breakfast. Even with Dinah in bed with him, Oliver had barely managed to sleep, instead, he spent worrying about Roy and feeling angry with the teen for his actions.

'He can barely look at me,' Roy thought as he gulped the pills down with water. 'He must still be pissed.' He set the glass down and tapped his fingers off the tabletop. "You're still mad, aren't you?"

"Very."

Roy looked down at his lap. "I know it was wrong. Hindsight and all that. I just-"

"I don't care why you did it."

"You-You don't?"

Oliver sighed as he turned around again, sliding toast lightly buttered to the teen. "No, because it doesn't matter why you did it. Not when you promised me, gave me your word, that if there was drinking you would call me so I could pick you up."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh." Oliver turned away again, leaving Roy to nibble on his toast. The tense silence sat between them for several minutes as Oliver prepared his own breakfast. Eventually, Roy got up the nerve to ask him something.

"What happens now?"

Oliver sighed. "Now, I punish you and you try to earn back my trust." Roy flinched at how flippantly he said it.

"It was one mistake, Ollie." Roy frowned at the table. 'Why is he being so hard on me? It's not like I committed a felony!'

"I know Roy, but actions have consequences. You're lucky the police just let you off with a slap on the wrist. What if you'd drank too much and needed to be hospitalized? What if the guy who drove you was drinking too and you got into an accident?"

"I-I didn't really think about that."

"I know. Which is why you're grounded for two weeks-" That seemed fair enough. "You will go to school, after school you come to my office and do your homework, when we come home you will go straight to your room and no get within 10 feet of anything electronic. Understood?"

"Yes, Oliver."

"And Speedy is grounded for a month."

Roy's head snapped up and he gaped at Oliver. "A month?!"

"Yes."

"But-"

"No buts. You gave me your word and you went back on that. If I can't trust you to call me if you're around illegal drinking, how I can I trust you to catch criminals and watch my back?"

"That's not fair! I made one mistake, Ollie!"

"One, illegal mistake!"

"Like you never drank before you were 21! What right do you have to judge me?!"

"I'm your guardian, legally I'm supposed to judge you!"

"Well, I don't need you judging me! You're not my parent, so back off!"

"I may not be your parent, but I am your mentor! No Speedy for a month! And if you keep arguing with me it'll be longer!"

Roy's teeth ground together and he glared daggers at Oliver. "You know what, I'm glad you're not my parent! I hate you!" Before Oliver could say anything else, Roy hopped out of his seat and he ran out of the room. He pushed past Dinah as he left and she gave Oliver a look.

"Morning, Oliver," Dinah said, acting as if she hadn't just heard the shouting match that had taken place. Oliver didn't say anything as he put her breakfast on a plate and she sat down. "So….I overheard the conversation with Roy." More silence. "And it went well I take it?"

"….Honestly I should've just not said anything and ignored him," Oliver replied as he placed a plate in front of her.

"You can't ignore him forever, Oliver. The silent treatment is not an effective parenting tactic."

"I don't like shouting at him either so…" Oliver sat down with his own breakfast and sighed. "I thought he had more sense than this! I thought he knew better! If he's doing shit like this when he's 15, what kind of trouble will he get into when he's 16 and he can drive?! What the hell will I do then?! I can't let him make all the stupid decisions I made at his age. I just can't. I won't let his life go so far downhill he needs to be stranded on a desert island with cocaine traffickers to get his head screwed on straight."

Dinah smiled a sad smiled. She leaned over and put her hand over one of his. "Ollie…I know you think it's your job to protect Roy from every bad thing out there, including himself, but you can't. He's going to make stupid decisions it's just what teenagers do. They push boundaries and break rules, it doesn't make him a bad kid."

"This is just so hard."

"I'm assuming no one warned you this parenting thing was difficult?"

"No!" Dinah laughed a little. "He wasn't like this last year."

"Roy was still getting used to you last year. If anything this is a sign that he's adjusting well if he's comfortable enough to make normal teenage mistakes while he's with you."

"…..I've never had to deal with this kind of shit before. I'm sure as hell not going to ask my uncle for advice. He still thinks my taking in Roy was a mistake. When he reads this in the tabloids he'll have a freaking field day."

"You're doing fine, Oliver. Just….try to remember that Roy is a person with thoughts and feelings. You're doing the right thing though."

"I hope so."

Dinah kissed the side of his head. "I'm going to freshen up a little bit."

"Ok."

Despite the fact that there was a bathroom downstairs, Dinah went upstairs. She strayed down a hall toward Roy's bedroom. The door was shut, so she knocked on it gently. "Roy? It's Dinah, can I come in?"

"….I guess," the teen said. Dinah walked into the room and found Roy sitting cross-legged on the ground, restringing one of his bows. She stood there for a moment, watching him. "What?"

"I take it you didn't like Oliver's choice of punishment?"

"It's unfair! I understand grounding me from tv and normal stuff, but Speedy?! How can he do that?!"

"He's your guardian, Roy. It's his job."

"No, his job is to feed me and give me a bed! He doesn't get the right to judge me! Especially considering what he did when he was 15!"

"Oliver is being harsh because he cares about you, Roy."

Roy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure."

"He does. The same way your adopted dad loved you. What would he have done if he knew you'd been drinking?" Roy looked at the floor.

"….It's different…."

"How?"

"It-it just is-" He glared up at her. "Get out of my room!" Dinah nodded, knowing when she wasn't wanted. She left, unsure if she'd made things better or worse between the two archers.

For the rest of the day, they didn't see any signs of Roy. Dinah spent the day watching tv with Oliver, curled up against him on the couch. Every so often she saw him glance in the direction of the stairs, but he never made a move to go up there. When it was time for Dinah to leave, she gave Oliver a very passionate kiss goodbye. "Give him some space," she said. "He'll come around."

"I hope so, Pretty Bird."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

After Dinah left, Oliver wandered around his mansion, thinking and rubbing his goatee. He kept going over the fight with Roy in his head. It was so reminiscent of the many fights he'd had with his uncle throughout his adolescence. How none of it had ever done anything but build resentment between them. 'That's different though,' he reasoned with himself. 'My uncle is an asshole and he just didn't want to deal with me. I'm trying to help Roy. Keep him on the right path so he won't be as much of a mess when he's older.' No matter the differences, he still couldn't help but feel the silence in the mansion was somewhat familiar. Roy didn't come downstairs all day, not even for dinner. Oliver knocked on his door four times, but the teen didn't even respond verbally. In the end, Oliver had to spoon some chili into a bowl and bring it up to him. He knocked on Roy's door again, opening it after he did.

Roy glared at him from the bed. "I didn't say you could come in," he grumbled.

"I wanted to make sure you ate." Oliver placed the bowl on Roy's desk. "I'm leaving for patrol. Keep the doors locked and I'll activate the security system before I head out."

"Whatever." Roy crossed his arms and looked away.

"…Ok, then." Oliver didn't leave and after a minute Roy looked at him again.

"Do you need something?"

"Just….be good, ok?"

"Don't tell me what to do."

Oliver glared a little bit. "I'm your guardian, Roy. I'll damn well tell you what to do if I feel like it."

"Whatever, Ollie. Just go on patrol."

"Fine." Oliver left the room, feeling like a failure as he shut the door.

For a few minutes, Roy considered sneaking out but decided against it. 'If the security system is armed I'll never get off the property.' He sighed and rolled over so he could bury his face in his pillows. 'I hate this! I did one thing! It was one mistake and he's acting like I killed someone or something!' As angry as he was with the punishment, part of him hated the silence that had persisted throughout the day. 'It's never like that with him. He's kind of a jerk sometimes and annoying….but I don't think I can go the next three years not talking to him.' Well, part of Roy was convinced he could, but it wouldn't be very fun. He thought back to his conversation with Dinah earlier. 'God, Brave Bow would be so…he'd be so disappointed if he knew.' Somehow, despite his adopted dad being dead for over two years, Roy could still see his disappointed look in his mind, clear as day. And the sight of it in his mind's eye still stung. 'I guess Ollie's punishment isn't as bad as that.' Hell, Brave Bow probably would've grounded Roy for far longer. If anything, Oliver's punishment was a little lenient. Roy groaned. "I'm not telling that to Ollie." He'd rather eat his own quiver than admit Oliver was right to his face. 'I'll wait up for him and….say goodnight when he gets home.'

— —

When Oliver got home, he was tired and still in a reasonably bad mood. He'd actually missed having Speedy at his side all night and attempted to take on his usual criminal numbers, but without a second archer watching his back he'd almost been shot in the head. Four times. Exhausted and more than a little aggravated, he went upstairs as soon as he was changed. He paused outside Roy's bedroom for a moment, hand hovering over the doorknob. After a moment, he let his hand fall and turned away. He didn't have the energy to go another round with Roy. Oliver wandered down the hall to his own room and turned the light on. A frown crept across his lips when he saw a large lump under his covers. Walking over to the bed semi-cautiously, he reached out slowly and jerked the comforter back. A small smile replaced the frown when he saw Roy sleeping in his bed. The teen was curled up with the sheets wrapped around him like a burrito.

Oliver sighed a little, then put some pajamas on. He slid under the covers and put an arm around Roy. The teen frowned in his sleep and batted at Oliver with a slight moan. Unbothered by this, Oliver smiled and wrapped an arm around him. Even in his sleep, Roy seemed to give in and settled against Oliver's chest. The man smiled and rubbed his back. 'Why can't it be this easy all the time?' he thought as he settled in. Part of Oliver was pretty certain this wouldn't be the last time he and Roy disagreed about something; especially a punishment. In the morning he'd have to try and explain to Roy again why he had to be so harsh with him. Try to make the teen see reason. For now, though, he just wanted to sleep and enjoy being close with Roy. And pretend for at least one night he wasn't a total failure as a parent.


End file.
